Sanitary spoon-holder.



W. B. ROHMBR'.

SANITARY SPOON HOLDER.

APPLIUATION FILED 111.11.12. 19104 993, 198. Patented May 23, 1911.

2 SHBET-SHEBT 1.

attain,

W. B. RQHMER.

SANITARY SPOGN HOLDER.

APPLIoATIoN funn 11,111.12, 1910. v

993,198., Patented May 23, 1911.

WILLIAMB. ROI-IMER, OF BAY ST. LOUIS, MISSISSIPPI.

SANITARY SPOON-HOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 23, 1911.

Application led March 12, 1910. Serial No. 548,939.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM B. ItoHMnR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bay St. Louis, in the county of Hancock and State of Mississippi, have invented a new and useful Sanitary Spoon-Holder, of which the following is a specication.

This invention is an apparatus for use in lunch rooms or upon soda water counters or other places, having for its object the provision of means whereby each customer will be supplied `with a spoon which has not been handled or exposed to dust or other unde- Y sirable influences.

The stated object and such other objects as willzhereinafter incidentally appear are attained by the use of the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and the invention consists in certain novel features of the same, as will be hereinafter first fully described and then particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation partly broken away and with the front of the casing removed, of an apparatus embodying my present invention. Fig. 2 is a view of the apparatusv partly in plan and partly in horizontal section. Figs. 3 and 4: are vertical transverse sections showing different positions of the parts to disclose the operation of the same in order to supply a spoon to a customer.

In carrying out my invention, I employ a casing 1 which will have a glass front and is supported upon legs or other supports 2 upon a counter or table 3, and is preferably held against removal from the counter or table by means of brackets or straps 4 secured to the supports Q. and the counter or table, as clearlyv shown in Figs. 3 and Il. The casing is disposed at some slight distance above the counter or table by means of the supports 2 so as to provide a space for the delivery of the spoon, and a chute 5 extends from the bottom 6 of the casing to the counter, as shown clearly in Figs. 3 and 4, so as to guide the delivered spoon to the front of the counter where it may be picked up by the customer. The chute 5 is composed of sheet metal or other material having the requisite strength and durability, combined with lightness, and is secured at its upper end to the bottom of the casing and is braced by brackets or arms 7 secured to the bottom 6 and to the chute at an intermediate point of the same. The bottom G of the casing is provided with a central opening 8 which is normally covered by a door or valve 9 of any preferred construction and arrangement, andV which, in the form ofthe invention illustrated, is constructed of sheet metal and hinged at its rear edge to the bottom of the casing at the rear of the opening S therein, as shown at 10. This door orV valve is held normally in its closed position by a bail 11 connected with a slide 12 which is mounted on the upper side of the bottom of the casing and is provided with a handle 13 projecting forwardly therefrom and playing in openings 1114 in the front side of the casing. The

bail 11 comprises a cross bar bearing against the under side of the door or valve 9 and side bars 15 extending forward from the ends of the cross bar to slide upon cleats or guides 16, secured to the under side of the casing and having their ends turned upward, as shown at 17, to be secured to the under side of the slide 12 at the ends of the same, the said upturned ends 17 playing in slots 18 in the bottom G of the casing, as will be readily understood. The slide is held normally toward the front of the casing by a spring 19 which is shown secured to the front wall of the casing and the slide, but in actual practice will be disposed within the handle, so that the door or valve 9 will be held closed and a spoon resting thereon will be retained Within the casing. When it is desired to deliver a spoon, the handle 13 is pushed inward so that the slide will move in opposition to the spring 19 and the bail 11 will be caused to release the door and permit the same to open so that the spoon, shown at 20, will at once drop upon the chute 5 and slide down the same to the front edge thereof within convenient reach of the customer.

The spoons are arranged in a vertical stack within the casing and are held in proper position over the door o1' valve 9 4by means of a rack consisting of spaced standards 21 connected by cross bars or braces 22 whereby a pair of light parallel racks or frames will be provided, and these racks or frames are connected at their ends by loops or bands 23 of sheet metal or other material which are maintained in their proper positions by posts 24 at the ends of the casing to which they may be detachably secured. It

will be noted that the vertical frames consisting of the standards 21 and the cross bars 22 are arranged close together so that the distance between them will be just sufficient to admit the handle of one spoon wlereby the spoons within the rack will be kept in vertical alinement. The standards are spaced from the walls of the casing so as to provide room for the bowls and eX- panded ends of the spoon handles, as shown clearly in Figs. 1 and 2, and the bands or braces 23 which connect the ends of the standards to the post 24 are appropriately shaped to accommodate the bowls and handles when the spoons are being placed in the rack and when they are withdrawn. The spoons are disposed between the racks, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, in a vertical pile or stack, and when so disposed will be directly over the openingB within the bottom of the casing so that they will tend, by gravity, to pass through the said opening onto the door or valve. In order to control the passage of the spoons to the opening 8, I provide spoon supporters 25 consisting of a pair of arms pivoted upon brack-ets 26 on the rear standards 21 and connected by a cross bar 27 and having their lower ends held normally across the path of the spoons by springs 28 secured to the upper ends of the said arms and the rear wall of the casing, as shown in Figs. 3 and 1, and as will be readily understood. The lower ends of these arms 25 will engage the handles of thespoons and thereby support the same above and off the door while from the rear sides of the arms depend fingers 29 which extend directly into the path of pins 3() projecting rearwardly from the rear edge of the slide 12,/as clearly shown. Guides 31 are provided on the side walls of the casing to hold the slide 12 in its proper position so that the pins 30 will, in the operation of the apparatus, always be in position to impinge against the said fingers 29 and the arms may be projected slightly beyond the fingers 29, as shown at 32, to more positively engage the spoons.

The casing is provided with a cover 32 and this cover may be hinged to either the front or the back wall of the casing and prevented from swinging back against the same by a restraining 'cord or other device 33.

It is believed the operation of the device will be readily understood from the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. In thenormal position of the parts, the spoons will be supported by the lower ends or points 32 of the arms 25 within the rack composed of the standards 21`and the cross bars 22, and the said ends of the arms 25 will be held projected across the downward path of the spoons by the springs 28, as described. The

yfirst inward movement of the slide 12 will carry the pins 30 against vthe fingers 29 and thereby swing the arms 25 rearward against the tension of the springs 28, see Fig. l. The lowermost spoon will thereupon drop upon-the pins 30 so that when the slide returns to its forward position the spoon will be drawn from the-pins by the lower bands 23 and will drop upon the door 9, by which it will be supported. As the slidevreturns to its forward position, the arms 25 will be swung forward by the springs 28 so that the lower ends or points 32 of the said arms will be projected across the path of the spoons and will engage under the spoon next above the spoon on the pins 30 and, consequently, support the several spoons above the plane of the said pins. As the slide reaches its forward position, the pins will be withdrawn from under the spoon thereon and` consequently the spoon will drop under the door. When the slide is again pushed inward or rearward, the door will be opened and the spoon deposited thereon will be delivered to the chute 5 down which it will slide to a point where it may be reached by the customer. The bail 11, of course, follows the movements of the slide so that as the slide is drawn forward, the door will be closed and the spoon supported by the pins deposited on the door, the said spoon having been permitted to drop upon the pins when the slide is pushed inward, owing to the impact of the pins against the fingers 29 and the consequent movement of the arms 25 from under the spoon. It will thus be seen that with each operation of the slide, a spoon is delivered to the customer and a second spoon deposited upon the door in position to be delivered upon the next operation of the apparatus. V

By the use of my device, the spoons will be maintained in an orderly manner and at the same time will be held inaccessible so that flying particles of dust cannot lodge thereon, nor can germs be deposited thereon by insects or by air currents. Handling of the spoons will be prevented so that after the spoons have been cleaned and placed in the casing, they cannot be Vsoiled or contaminated by promiscuous use. Each customer will be assured of a clean spoon which he obtains by his own action for his when desired as are within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

Having thus described the invent-ion,what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The combination with a rack, of supporting arms pivotally mounted in rear of the rack and projecting normally across the rack to ret-ain articles therein, means arranged in advance of the rack to actuate said arms to release an article from the rack, and a movable support below the rack connected to said means to receive and deliver the released article.

2. The combination of a vertically disposed rack, supporting arms mounted in rear of the rack and projecting normally across the same to retain articles therein, means mounted in advance of the rack to actuate said arms to release an article and arranged to temporarily retain the released article, and a movable support below said means to receive the article therefrom and actuated by said means to deliver the article.

3. The combination of a vertically-dis-4 i posed rack, a slide arranged in advance ofthe rack and adjacent the lower end of the same, a door arranged below the slide, a bail carried by the slide and acting on the door, and means controlled by the slide to permit the passage of a single article.

4. rIhe combination with an article-supporting rack, of supporting arms mounted in rear of the rack and projecting normally across the same, a movable support below the rack adapted to support a single article, and means for oscillating the arms to permit a single article to escape from the rack and simultaneously actuate the movable support to discharge the article thereon.

5. The combination with a rack, of an arm pivotally mounted in rear of the rack land adapted to project across the rack to retain articles therein, a slide mounted in front of the rack and adapted to actuate the said pivoted arm to release an article from the rack, and a movable support below the rack controlled by the slide to receive and deliver the released article.

6. In an article delivering device, an article holding rack, a hinged door below the rack in position to receive the articles therefrom, a slide and means carried thereby movable above the door for sustaining the articles in the rack from movement to the door on the movement of the slide in one direction, connections between the slide and door in underriding sustaining relation to the door and movable by the slide toward and from the hinge part of the door, and upholding means for the articles within the rack active thereto on the withdrawal of the upholding means carried by the slide.

for the articles to be delivered, a slide movable in a direction transverse to the movement of the articles from the rack, article sustaining means carried by the slide and movable by the holder into sustaining relation to the article in the rack, article sustaining means in coactive relation to the rack and having a normal tendency to engage and uphold the articles within the rack, said last named upholding means being in the path of and yieldable to the article upholding means carried by the slide, and means controllable by the slide for sustaining an article delivered from the rack until the upholding means carried by the slide are in operative relation to the articles remaining in the rack.

8. The combination of a vertically-disposed rack, a slide arranged in advance of the rack and adjacent the lower end of the same, a door arranged below the slide, a bail carried by the slide and acting on the door, and pins projecting rearward from the slide to feed articles from the rack to the door.

9. The combination of a vertically-disposed rack, arms pivotally mounted in rear of the rack and provided at their lower ends with fingers, springs acting on said arms to hold them normally projected across the rack, a slide arranged in advance of the rack, and pins projecting from the slide adapted to impinge against the ingers of said arms and thereby feed articles from the rack.V

10. The combination of avertically-disposed rack, arms pivotally mounted in rear of the rack and provided at their lower ends with fingers, springs acting on said arms to hold them normally projected across the rack, a slide arranged in advance of the rack, pins projecting from the slide adapted to impinge against the fingers of said arms and thereby feed articles from the rack, a door below the said slide adapted to receive the article fed from the rack, and means carried by the slide for actuating the said door.

11. The combination of a vertically-disposed rack, arms pivotally mounted in rear of the rack and provided with fingers depending from their rear sides at their lower ends, springs acting on said arms to hold the lower ends of the same normally projected across the rack, a slide arranged in advance of the lower end of the rack, pins projecting rearwardly from the slide in position to impinge against the fingers at the lower ends of the pivoted arms to thereby vibrate the arms and release an article from the rack to be received on the pins.

l2. The combination of an outer casing, a spoon holding rack arranged within the same and consisting of-two open vertical frames spaced apart suiiiciently to receive the stems of the spoon handles between them, with the spoons arranged in vertical order one upon another, and the bowls and ends of the spoons extending beyond the frames= each frame comprising spaced standards and braces for the same, and horizontally disposed expanded loops secured to the said frames at each end at the bottom to receive and position the bowls and ends of the spoons, and mechanism disposed at the bottom of the rack and adapted to move across the same to engage the spoon handles beture in'the presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM B. ROHMER. Witnesses:

J. V. VVAINIE,` GEO. W. HOFFMANN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

